Paul Hansen

Senior Lecturer, Massey University College of Education, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Going Potty - A Case Study

Abstract

Going Potty reports on a case study of a school based community project that located a museum-type exhibition within a small rural environment in New Zealand.

For the teachers and children this provided the catalyst for a variety of participatory workshops and educational outcomes involving 2 dimensional and 3 Dimensional Visual Art.

This project arose in response to a number of issues of relevance to art educators and contemporary museum exhibition theory and practice including:

- Elitism and the social embedeness of taste (Bourdieu, 1979; Zolberg, 1994; Cameron, 1971, 1993, 1995)

- Creating a 'dialogue' with exhibition visitors (Marwick, 1995; Scott,

1995; Bennet, 1991)

- Enhancing community links through interaction and participation (Merriman, 1991; Belcher, 1991; Hood, 1992; Worts, 1993)

Scope of the Exhibition

Going Potty was a participatory, multimedia exhibition incorporating 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional displays. The focus was on pottery forms from a variety of cultures throughout history (Grecian, Egyptian, Asian, South American, European and the Pacific Islands).

The project manager included a variety of personal works including replicas and original works based on researching ancient La Pita Pottery. Families from the school community were also invited to contribute ceramic objects from their own collections.

Teachers, children and parents responded to the exhibition project in a variety of ways, which provided substantive feedback to the project manager.

Participatory Programme

A variety of display strategies and extension activities were invoked to facilitate a deeper audience engagement with the exhibition. These included 'hands on' encounters, observational drawings, written personal responses and the inclusion of a 'visitors' table of artefacts within the exhibition space.

The exhibition also provided a resource for a school wide, Visual Art workshop programme including a variety of media (drawing, collage, clay modelling).

These activities generated a rich variety of expressive outcomes, which culminated in an exhibition of the children's work.

Setting

Locating the exhibition within a small rural primary school provided an unfamiliar setting for introducing a thematic museum-type experience incorporating theoretical aspects.

The evaluation indicates that there are benefits for all concerned in an exhibition project of this type, and the positive outcomes suggest this as a rich vein for Museums to explore if they are serious about relating more to their communities, and involving non-visitors in their activities.

An on-site exhibition provides a school with wonderful resource that with forward planning (front end and formulative evaluations), can be utilised across the curriculum framework for integrated learning.

In such a setting students are also offered a refreshing change to regular classroom program structures and the opportunity for self-directed learning, involving research (texts/labels, books, video, computers, internet, artist studies etc).

A participatory exhibition project of this type can also involve parents more in contributing to the educational habitus of their children.

To more fully realise this potential presents both challenges and exciting opportunities for Project Managers engaging in educational projects in their communities.

Bionote

Paul Hansen is an artist (ceramics and bronze) and art educator who has worked in a variety of community and educational settings including Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions.

He is currently Senior Lecturer in Visual Art at the Massey University College of Education in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Presentation Type
30 min. Paper

Presentation Equipment and Other Requests
35mm Slide Projector

Speaking Date/Time Restrictions

Country
New Zealand